Shadows Of The Mind
by Br'erRabbit92
Summary: What goes through Rose Hale's mind? The fact that she was born human in a family of werewolves? Sometimes. The shock that her and her friends are still alive after all they've been through? Occasionally. Her boyfriend, Stiles Stilinski? All the time. But recently whats on in her mind are the recurring nightmares of Stiles being brutally murdered. Another monster? Most definitely.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She leaned into his embrace, feeling the warmth on one side of her body as the gentle wind brushed her unprotected side. She smiled into his chest, letting him stroke her chocolate brown hair as she listened to his steady heartbeat. An overwhelming sense of peace washed over her. Such a sensation was one she had not felt in a long time. It made her think maybe the concept of hope was truly possible in this crazy town she called home. Maybe everything worked out for a reason that was unknown to them at the time. Either way, she wasn't going to let this moment go...but she didn't have a choice.

A low growl pierced the soft whistling of the wind.

Rose tensed, dread filling her as fast as if she had gotten whip lashed by it. She knew Stiles had heard it as well by his once steady heartbeat turning into a rapid pounding. She leaned up slowly, meeting his dark eyes.

There was another growl, closer this time.

Rose instinctively grabbed Stiles hand, squeezing it as if it were her only lifeline. Stiles's eyes wondered, alert for any sudden movements. The woods of Beacon Hills had a numinous feel. It was exuberant and lush while at the same time mysterious and eerie. A great place for a date...if you didn't scare easily.

Snarls, more than one, seemed to echo in Rose's ears, but she still couldn't catch sight of the creatures. The sense of fear grew, not knowing what could happen next. Life-threatening situations were not foreign to Rose or Stiles, however, they were something the two teens would never get used to.

A dark shape moved unnoticed in the bushes only feet from where they sat atop Stiles' jeep. Rose was the first to sense something in the direction from where it came. She stared thoroughly in the brush and nearly jumped at every little leaf that moved in the wind. Her heart nearly stopped beating when the sudden sound of Stiles's screams interrupted the still silence.

The rest happened in a matter of seconds. The first thing Rose felt was the cold, hard ground beneath her. Flashes of darkness danced across her eyes as she blinked rapidly to regain focus. Then, she felt a pain, sharp and discomforting, stinging her right ankle. The young teen went to cry out for Stiles, but found she could not do so. As if stolen from her, her ability to speak was gone.

An ineluctable wave of panic swept over her. She tried again and again, but could not make her voice cooperate with her commands. Then she realized something. The scene was quiet. Everything stood still. Glancing around, her eyes now readjusted to the dimness, Rose saw that not one leaf moved on the trees surrounding her. It felt like time had frozen everything but her.

Still aware of her hurt ankle, she shifted her weight to her hands as she shuffled them along the dirt floor, moving herself around the jeep. Gently pulling her body over to the other side of the vehicle, she stopped cold when faced with the sight in front of her.

The crimson fluid ran through the small breaks in the uneven ground. Like a river, it flowed close to the paralyzed girl, dampening her hands and her dark-washed jeans. The source of the flood was the lifeless body of Stiles Stilinski. His chest had been torn, shredded as if it had been nothing but a thin piece of paper. His pale face was stained with droplets of blood, almost covering his light brown eyes that remained wide open in shock.

Rose could only stare, her mind blank. Her heart ached a pain a thousand times worse than her ankle did. The emotions, fear, despair, sorrow, anger, all seemed to have submerged her in her own tears that came down her cheeks like heavy rain. She opened her mouth wide and forced with every will she had left to make the noise that reflected her anger come out. She screamed her silent scream until her face was as red as her boyfriend's blood that was smeared all over her skin. Her efforts finally faded away with her muted sobs. Curled into an isolated ball, she cried herself into a slow slumber.

She gasped suddenly as her eyes shot back open. Launching herself forward, she sat up, taking in the scene around her, and calming her quick spurts of breath.

The familiar, musty smell of her room filled the air. The soft, cushiony feel of her bed was beneath her. She whirled around frantically, feeling relief fill her body as she realized where she was; home in bed.

Her gasping subsided as she turned to the small alarm clock on her nightstand. It read three thirty a.m., not quite time to get up for school. Rose frowned at the thought of trying to go back to sleep, afraid she would wake up back in her nightmare. She had to reassure herself that everything was truly all right, especially in this town where virtually nothing was as it seemed.

Rose reached over and grabbed her cell phone off her wood nightstand that sat beside her bed. She turned it on, squinting at the bright light that stung her eyes. Scrolling down her contact list she eventually came to Stiles's name and hit 'call'.

Listening to the dial tone, she silently prayed he'd answer. No doubt he was long asleep by now, but she knew he would have left his phone on for emergencies.

Sure enough, "Hello?"

Rose almost smiled. His voice sounded somnolent and crude like he was trying to talk through his pillow.

"Stiles?" Rose spoke through the phone.

"Yeah? What's up?" He asked after clearing his throat so he could speak clearly.

"Um," Rose hesitated, just noticing she hadn't thought this through. She didn't want Stiles to worry about her, but at the same time hearing his voice was worth the late night call. "Nothing, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Rose, seriously, what's wrong?" He questioned again. She could hear the slight concern in his voice.

"Nothing," She repeated. "Goodnight, Stiles."

Then she ended it, hung up before he could say anything else. Rose sat there for a moment, staring at her phone, and half expected it to erupt in vibrations as Stiles called back. But it never did.

Rose set it back on the nightstand after a while and rolled over in her bed. She pulled the warm covers up over her shoulders and closed her eyes. Unfortunately, she never got back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The congested sound of numerous voices filled the classroom, making it hard to concentrate...not that Rose was focused on school anyway. Her current task was to try and get the tormenting images from her all too vivid dream out of her head. Her brother, Derek, once told her the more she tried to block out a memory, the more it would eat at her. This proved difficult, because while she didn't want to remember the nightmare, her conscious was forcing her to relive it. The sight of Stiles, bloody and mutilated, was replaying in her head. Each time she closed her eyes and saw it, the rush of fear found its way back into the pit of her stomach and she had to snap her eyes back open to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. She repeated this process many times, determined that eventually when she closed her eyes, the memory would no affect her. So far, she had no luck. The thought of losing someone so dear to her was enough to drive her insane. However, after years of seeing her brother come home bloody and beaten from God knows what, she wasn't sure she was in good mental health anyways. But there was a difference between them. Derek's wounds would heal...Stiles's wouldn't.

She almost felt a need to be protective over him, even though she was only human herself. She had been around the bend too many times seeing the ones she loved hurt. Could she prevent that with Stiles?

Rose was so lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the soft tug on her hand.

"Hey," The familiar voice said. "You okay?"

Looking up into those deep brown eyes that filled her thoughts, she felt a sense of reassessment that gave her the courage to say, "Yeah, I'm fine."

The gentle squeeze of the warm hand that embraced hers made Rose's heart relax slightly. She always wondered how Stiles could give her such a feeling of comfort when it seemed all she could do was worry about things.

The rest of class went on for an eternity. Stiles's hand never left hers as he slung his arm to the side of his desk and Rose's stretched forward to hold it. She decided that as long as she knew Stiles was here and he was all right, she wasn't going to dwell on false occurrences. It didn't happen and it's not going to happen, she told herself over and over till she was convinced of it. And when she closed her eyes again, the anxiety was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What have we got here?" The sheriff questioned, speaking to no one in particular as he strode between the crowd of cops. He came out to be faced with a sight no police officer liked to see...a lifeless body.

"Victim's name is Emilie Harrison," one of the younger officer spoke tensely, "As of right now there are no signs of foul play, but we won't know the whole story until we do an autopsy."

Sheriff Stilinski nodded, mournfully. At the moment, he wasn't dwelling on what killed the youthful girl, but inside feeling empathy for her parents and other family members. As a father, the sheriff knew what a hard thing this would be. He gave one last longing look at Emilie and sighed then motioned to his team to start wrapping up.

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"Dad!" A shout from the crowd of anxious teens caught Sheriff Stilinksi's attention. He turned, instantly finding his son's face in the wave of kids that were all curious by the flashing lights of the ambulance and squad cars.

Stiles managed himself past a few policemen, pulling Rose Hale at his heels. The sheriff inwardly sighed, knowing his eccentric son would be ready to hammer him with questions. Something he didn't want to deal with at the moment.

"Stiles, I really don't have time for this," He said, flatly, as his son stopped in front of him.

"Was it Emilie?" He questioned, disregarding his father's attempt at avoiding conversation. "What happened?"

The sheriff glanced from him to Rose who wasn't paying attention to them. Instead, she was glancing around, nervously, and gripping Stiles's hand a little tighter than necessary.

"Rose, you okay?" He asked, concerned by her suspicious behavior.

She looked up at him with a sudden jerk of the head. Her eyes were wide and dark like she hadn't slept in a while. It took her a second to comprehend what he was asking, but she quickly nodded adding a soft, "Yeah."

"Dad," Stiles interrupted to badger him once again. "What happened?"

The sheriff knew he couldn't win this and decided to give up on the losing battle.

"We don't know yet. All we know is she was in the locker room when it happened. We have no witnesses," He explained.

"So it was Emilie," Rose stated, now alert to the conversation.

The sheriff nodded, glancing over his shoulder to see the ambulance begin to pull away, blaring their sirens as they hit the open road.

"I need to get back to work," He told the two. "I'll see you tonight."

Drowning in his own thoughts, he barely heard his son's goodbye as he walked briskly back to his squad car, already wishing this was a case closed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Normally, the conversations between Derek and his sister Rose were kept short and sweet. He'd ask her how school was and Rose would respond with simple one-word answers such as 'good' or 'boring'. But today was different. The second Rose walked into the loft, he knew something was wrong. Whether it was the way she chucked her book bag to the ground or the way he could hear her heartbeat pounding just a little faster than usual, Derek knew this wasn't going to be a quick exchanging of words.

"Hey," He said casually, watching Rose from where he sat on the dark couch.

"Hey," She replied halfheartedly, barely glancing up to make eye contact with him.

Derek could immediately see she didn't look well. She was slightly paler than usual and large bags hanging below her eyes.

"How was school?"

"Same old, same old." Rose mumbled, dully.

"I heard about Emilie," Derek stated. "Did you know her?"

Rose shook her head, solemnly, a glazed look in her eyes.

"Something wrong?"

Rose's head snapped up so quickly, Derek had hardly finished his question.

"Why would you think something's wrong?" Rose questioned, hesitantly. Her weary eyes read worry and concern and her words weren't enough to cover it up.

"Well, there was just a death at your school...again," Derek noted, getting up from his seat. "And you're off."

"Did you ever think maybe I'm just tired?"

"Why are you so tired?"

"Because I couldn't sleep!"

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Because…" Rose cut her words off, realizing her mistake. Her anger by the annoyance of her brother's questions kept her from seeing what he was doing. Derek smirked inwardly. He knew _all_ her weaknesses.

"Because?" Derek pressed, now standing a few feet from her, arms crossed over his chest,

concern written on his face.

"Because I couldn't!" Rose snapped back, scrunching her face up into a vexed expression.

"Because the nightmares are back?" Derek wondered, being all too familiar with his sister's middle of the night outbursts after a typical house fire flashback.

"No...just _a_ nightmare."

"About?"

"About Stiles." She told him, reluctantly.

Derek could see her features relaxing as she began explaining her nightmare. The thought of what his sister was feeling the moment she awoke made Derek cringe. Such a morbid dream, nothing like her flashbacks.

"You could've come and got me, you know." Derek proclaimed softly, running a hand down the side of her head and brushing a strand of hair from her saddened face. They now both sat on the plump couch together as Derek did his best to comfort Rose.

"I didn't want to worry you. Especially after..." Rose's voice trailed off, but she didn't have to finish. Derek knew Rose had been going for months without flashbacks. Ever since her and Stiles were made an official couple, she had been more positive, more happy. Derek liked seeing his sister happy. He didn't want that to stop because of some freak nightmare.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about me, okay? It _is _my job to worry about you." He mused.

"Okay." She mouthed silently.

Derek pulled her over and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Good. Now go do your homework."

"I'm going to Stiles's later to do homework," She proclaimed.

"Then go do...teenage girl things."

Rose playfully chuckled, heading off to her room, and leaving Derek to get lost in his own wandering thoughts.


End file.
